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V.I.P.

vrijdag 26 februari 2016

Well, curiousity killed the cat. Went out for a lunch after mixing and mastering the latest tracks. Someone (me), sneaked into my studio, sniffed around and touched my jewels! All captured (me) on tape. (me) Hit some forbidden bar and some song (from me) starts playing...at the wrong speed. Better not watch. Yet. Don't-do-it. Don't! Wait for the real one.

vrijdag 12 februari 2016

It's time for my confession. To talk to you about my chronic addiction. Everyone's got one: well, mine is a my ongoing music collecting habit. These days I'm inclined to go back to my old favourites, so the urge to stay ahead of any new, hip trend is minimilized to a few listens of easy googling. The reason for this sudden come out, is the "sudden" deaths of idols, like David Bowie, Allen Toussaint, Maurice White and Dan Hicks that triggered me to go back to my Golden Years of that addiction. It's far from complete when I talk about specific albums though. They just represent a few precious and personal moments.
Feel free to respond. Why not leave your own anecdote?
How did that start? It was the Summer of Love, this kid was about 4 years old and very curious. My first obsession with music was with my daddy's turntable, (spinning all kind of records that could play different tempos, 33, 45, 78 rpm), by watching the grooves going round. My first auditory learning. My father had an enormous amount of different records, like classical, jazz, blues, pop, rock that kept my ears wide open. This curious kid was also fascinated by that needle...what did that do? And where did that sound come from? As I was forbidden to touch that thing in any way, I could not help myself thinking about it and doing what daddy was doing just by breaking that golden rule. Wrong. I wanted to be the DJ in da house! Wrong. So one night I sneaked downstairs. Wrong! In the darkness I nervously picked out a random record-wrong- and laid it down on the turntable. So wrong! It all went dramatically downhill when I tried to put the needle on the edge of the record. My not so steady fingers pushed it all the way to the center of the plate. Gggrriiiiechhh!! Oeps, did I offend someone? Maybe I was the first scratcher in the dark, before it became hip. Yeah, right. All you see now, is a scratch going right through the grooves where the once powerful voice of Maria Callas stopped in its tracks and instead turned into this upset and hurt witch, as my father would show me many years later. Shame on sneaky me.I HAD to have one for myself! When I was about 11 years old, a turntable in a suitcase with one speaker (mono!) became my companion for the next few years. O my god, how many records did I spoil on that thing. The cheap needles did the destroying work. Fustrating when it was skipping or when it was repeating the same groove over and over. Almost made me hate the song! I still have those crippled records by the way. My first ambitious buy was a greatest hits double album of the Rolling Stones(Rolled Gold) with all of their sixties hits, like Satisfaction, Ruby Tuesday, Jumping Jack Flash and all their famous rest......excitement! I got lost track of this one somewhere, somehow though. Hey, it was a cheap pressing anyway. During these times I discovered the record stores. My mother took me along for an initiation to the obvious expensive ones, where you couldn't find anything special. But no tears, there were alternatives. Ah yes, the secondhand stores.

Not a lot of money in my pocket restricted me to the "unknown" names of artists/ bands that didn't sell at the time. If a cover was appealing enough I would buy it. One time I thought I had bought the first solo album of John Lennon (Plastic Ono Band 1970) for a bargain. I found out why.... It was Yoko Ono's version. O no.Sometimes I got lucky: I didn't know them well then, but arty, experimental albums of Can (Soon of Babaluma 1975) and Roxy Music (For Your Pleasure 1973) were eyeopeners and I'm still glad I've encountered them. They helped the exploration further. An urge to find any rare item of my favourite artists/ bands become a growing obsession. My collection grew and grew the more I broadened my musical palette, searching certain byways. At the start of the seventies I was basically a Pop music fan. Especially appealing were the harmony vocals, singalong melodies, but I could not
avoid those anyway as my parents kept the volume way up high. So many radio hits of the sixties had become part of my consciousness already as there was so much to explore. I saw a snowball and went after it. "Stamp"The influences I'm obviously talking about here, are the Beatles, Kinks stamp or the energetic side of pop in powerpop, the Who/ Stones
stamp. All unmistakenly english, but basically influenced by americana. Sort of the heir to the Beatles and the answer for the seventies to my young ears were the infectious melodies of the first arty period
(1973-1976) of 10cc. I still go back to
these first three very fun and clever albums if I'm in need of some
fresh inspiration. I bought them later on though, when I had more
holes (=money in my hand). I liked Prog-Rock, but it tried to top the Fabfour in too may scales, often in vain as it would turn out. All and all, I'm more of an art-rock (ironic, sarcastic, sardonic) than a prog-rock (too serious) fan, if you ask
me.

"a fixated mindset on the snowball that kept on rolling"
No city was safe. You could find me searching for any secondhand recordstore. I often consulted the dutch pop-encyclopedies, studied them to prepare myself more thoroughly. Listened to the radio. Made lists of "wanna have" items. Read magazines. Followed hitparades. Exchanged news with other nerds. Went to concerts. Got lost at music fairs. A fixated mindset on the snowball that kept on rolling. I Searched for all the-so so- recommended albums and often got them for a nice price. Collector items? Too expensive. Zappa? Not available, only import. Too expensive. Later on, I had my digital revenge. Still I could find a few underrated albums as well before they were collector's items years later.
I was often so, so lucky.

Books to read and the place to be

As my turntables got better, so did the
needles and so my records were safe from harm. One of my favourite recordstores at the
end of the seventies up until the millennium, was "Concerto" in
Amsterdam. The concept of four
different stores (secondhand, new popular, jazz and classical) next to
eachother under the same banner, was a pretty sight to see. The balance of the old and the new. With the smell of
secondhand vinyl in my nose in the morning, I eagerlessly walked the long walk
from central station right through the crowded centre to that long street near Rembrandsplein, just
to get me some of those rare stuff. That was my only drug then. Didn't need a coffeshop man!

Sometimes I hesitated though
I remember watching David Bowie's "Golden Years" on television around 1976. I found it all too strange. A white man singing "Soul"? I was already familiar with his androgyne look witnessing "Jean Genie" and his haunting "Space Odessey". I even purchased his early work, (a compilation "Changes One"), but this was different altogether. Black music was spreading like oil in influence, as witnessed by his funky track "Fame" from 1975, which James Brown (!) ironically stole its guitar lick from (played by his ex-guitarist Carlos Alomar, then Bowie's) for his 1976 "Hot"song.

I was intrigued by this, rhythmically hypnotic, repeating wah-wah sound and its heavenly sung melody. It hit me in the gut. I didn't really know about funk or soul then. It was the time of high-heeled platform shoes, just after the Hustle dance craze as disco glitter balls and coloured floorlights were changing the view of the ballrooms. Well and here was that Thin White Duke crooning all over an infectious groove, slowly, slipping underneath my skin. I had to find out about it. Which album it was on. I had to have it! I soon found that B&W cover with the red title and artist letters looking like one word in the nearest recordshop, staring at it for a long time. I couldn't afford the full price yet. I almost wanted to steal it. No downloads possible then. In 1977 I had a few bucks more, by saving birthday gifts from generous uncles and aunts. There it was, just waiting for me to grab it. I clearly remember it was christmas and the albums had a special low-price sticker on them. Still.... I didn't buy it! What the F...?

Tastes develop and so was mine, restless and always evolving. Sort of. I couldn't help myself. For example, I had a soft spot for the softpop-progrock of Supertramp ("Just A Little Bit" was their 1977 hit) and the very melodic album "Even In The Quietest Moments" had the right price.

Yes, I bought that one instead. O my.

Fate.
I can't recall how, but eventually I even got my hands on "Station To Station" as well. My mother loved his version of "Wild Is The Wind", as she loved Nina Simone's, so I think she bought it and I usually had to hear her favourite song over and over and then again. Very loud. Maybe we eventually swapped albums. Wathever happened, when I finally listened to the whole record I was hOOked on David Bowie and the snowball rolled on to R&B, Soul and Funk. "Staaaaayyyyy....". When Bowie died, I had to go back to that album. Sure, this one is a favourite, but "Low" and "Heroes" are too. That whole period 1976-1978 was a magical one for me. Soon I was checking out other white guys that "did" black music, even more when I saw this on TV (Vid.): Boz Scaggs. The unavoidable hits "What Can I Say and "Lowdown". That smooth,
slick and sophisticated sound and rhythm patterns got me
hooked. The word was "crossover", before it became AOR. Melody and rhythm combined, that was the key! Blue-eyed soul it was called.
His
old bandmate Steve Miller's
"Fly Like An Eagle" crossovered me too. What Could I Say?
I was already aware of the irresistable, hypnotic rhythms though.Of course James Brown's "Sexmachine" comes to mind. It got a lot of spins on seventies radio, so one could not avoid it. No way. I still had to feel it in my gut.

It was the overdone and outragous image of black music that put me off at
first. I couldn't take it all too seriously. Found out it was me who was
too serious.

It was 1977
when I first heard "Brickhouse"

Goddamn!

Outragous, hardhitting,intense, sultry, uplifting,hypnotic,chantfunk.

It hit me like a rhythm
stick, I loved it!
I couldn't find the studio version right away, but then
I saw this double live album by the Commodores.
Wow, why not try out the "live" version, maybe there's more excitement! Got that right brother. And one of the reasons I
wanted to play the drums I guess. Still I had to discover Sly and P-Funk. But this gave me some fresh, positive vibes. I was funked and ready for more.
Thanks to that one hell of a smart Mr. Bowie.

Speaking of live albums in 1976: it became a trend when Peter Frampton's
"Comes Alive" came out and found its way in every household on any
block of the world. Yes, the sensation of the big stadium tours.

Another successful double-well, half live- album was Santana's
"Moonflower" that turned me on to the more adventurous and unexpected
syncopated side of rhythm: Latin music (salsa, samba, bosa nova, jazz).

And then BAM, "Punk" washed the bubbling and overblown progrockhipfest thing away.

And what do you think was my reaction....??

I moved on, still bought more, went digital, but kept my collection. I also save them on hardisks.

JoosTVD Tube

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Get hooked!

And once again he does not disappoint the listener. Again a pleasant mix of danceable R & B, funk, pop and cabaret and a jazzy flavor, which some songs are tinted, is audible.Album review "Sagitario" [2017]

Musically, Sagitario again offers the complete range of jazz, funk, rock, cabaret and nonsense. If you do not know JoosTVD yet you can not really classify it. The fact that the songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, alone in his studio year after year, is a cure against any bad mood or spring fatigue.Album review "Sagitario" [2017]

The album Open Up My Parachute of the Dutch multi-instrumentalist / singer-songwriter JoosTVD (aka Joost van Dinther, with musical nickname Joost The Vanished Dutchman)) is a notable release because on the one hand a very successful one-man project and by the varied musical character, a mix of r & B, funk, pop and Latin, often still covered with a jazzy twist.Album Review "Open Up My Parachute" [2016]

What does it need to get great pop songs? Of course you need melodies, that go straight to your head and a groove to make you dance on the spot. And every great pop song needs lyrics to make you laugh or cry. Yes, you can say: "Open Up My Parachute" very close to be a perfect pop album!Album Review "Open Up My Parachute" [2016]

Some musicians are just too clever while humorous to in this oh so serious - to be successful - and so successful greedy world. I'm glad that someone like JoosTVD is not discouraged them and publish nevertheless an album full of musical great songs every year.Album Review "Lightning Dutchman" [2015]

a great album musically and from her texts. And even if mimicking here the music to the subject in accordance with the style of the last decades, is that by no means that the pieces of Joost van Dinther would not extremely orginal.Album Review "I Mimic Me" [2014]

It could also look for Relatives of music as Steely Dan, the middle period of Stevie Wonder and others. But just were never so full of humor, sarcasm and self - irony. Who calls a title voluntarily 'Stupid song (s)', which then also completely silly comes as the world tour by Ralf Sögel written directly on the Casio and then pimped even with horns? This is simply zappaesk. And of course, great.Album Review "The Ballooning Brouhaha" [2013]

And since Frank Zappa is no longer available is musically sophisticated and at the same time humorous albums, one must here always attentive lookout. Joos The Vanished Dutchman can convince me in recent years repeatedly.Album Review "Art Decoy The Bluebeard Boy" [2012]"Let me tell you... music, is a very serious thing... right?... but, there's nothing in the book that says it can't be fun... or even funny. In fact, I believe that it even benefits a whole lot, when musicians are having fun while doing it. It breathes quality and know how all over. It's... an extended, but overall gratifying... funky based production, leaded by an excellent performer, with a voice full of personality and a full bodied singing, replete of irony and good spirit. The music is quite addictive and sounds generally super well."

"Orson Nietes is from front to back through all 24 tracks (and over 70 minutes) a great entertainment at the highest level and as I said.. Danceable from cover to cover without risks and side effects My recommendation is: Download and Share!"Album Reviews "Orson Nietes" [2011]

"If people have immediately a smile on his face when music is playing, then that's a good sign. In Joos TVD the soon running shortly after the start of the album. Immediately came questions: Who's that? A Dutchman who builds all alone in the studio? Unbelievers glances."Album Review "The Vanished Dutchman" [2010]